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At Trumpeter’s Home, the Door’s Always Open

Piotr Redlinski for The New York TimesWynton Marsalis, 48, and his friend Joey Pero, 29, in Mr. Marsalis’s apartment in Manhattan.

On Thursday evening, Joey Pero walked past Lincoln Center and stepped into the lobby of a luxury high-rise apartment building on West 66th Street and told the doorman, “We’re here to see Wynton.”

Mr. Pero, a 29-year-old, Juilliard-educated trumpet player with a new album out, headed up to a sprawling apartment with stunning views of Manhattan and New Jersey and the purple-glowing sky beyond.

In a far room, Wynton Marsalis plunked out notes at different intervals on a grand piano covered with music books. Mr. Marsalis was on a tight deadline, but he got up – his pal Joey was here.

“Joey’s like a member of my family,” Mr. Marsalis said. The two trumpeters get together regularly at Mr. Marsalis’s apartment, for a chess game or a meal or maybe some playing. Or sometimes none of these.
“He just comes up and hangs out — it’s not like we sit around talking about mouthpieces,” said Mr. Marsalis, who wore a dress shirt, slacks and socks.

Mr. Pero grew up near Rochester, N.Y., idolizing Mr. Marsalis. When he was 15, his father, also named Joe, took him to one of Mr. Marsalis’s performances in Toronto and brought him backstage afterward to try to meet his hero. Mr. Marsalis was moved to see this working-class father — a plumber — trying to help his son live his dream as a trumpeter. He gave young Joey his Manhattan address.

“I saw a father wanting something for his son,” Mr. Marsalis said on Thursday. “When I was a kid, my mama wanted something better for us, and would bring us to classical concerts where we were the only black people there. I know she didn’t want to be there. She was doing it for us.”

It must have worked because Joey became a student at Juilliard. And he and his father were warmly welcomed by Mr. Marsalis, who took a special liking to Joe Pero senior. “He’s a plumber -– he fixed my toilet one time,” Mr. Marsalis said. “They’re soulful people.”

This is what Mr. Marsalis thought about the younger man’s playing: direct and sincere, with a skillful technique that was hard earned, like his own. Mr. Marsalis gave him one of his David Monette trumpets, a “brush gold” model. Giving horns is a tradition, Mr. Marsalis said.

“Al Hirt gave me my first trumpet,” he said, referring to the great New Orleans trumpeter. His beloved teacher William Fielder also gave him a horn.

Mr. Pero plays that Monette trumpet on his new CD, “Resonance,” which features his technique and stupendous high-note work, as well as vocal performances by Freddie Cole and Phoebe Snow.

Mr. Pero became friends with Mr. Marsailis’s three sons, including his teenage son, who, during the Thursday visit, was in another room playing hip-hop music.

“He wants to be a D.J.,” Mr. Marsalis said of his son. “I told him, ‘If you like it, fine, but I’m not going to listen to it.’”

Mr. Marsalis is in the middle of finishing a symphonic piece for the Berlin Philharmonic. Near the piano was a television tuned to a N.B.A. playoff game between the Atlanta Hawks and the Orlando Magic.

“I’m comfortable with noise when I’m writing, as long as it’s not music,” Mr. Marsalis said. “I grew up in a busy house with a lot of kids around.”

Mr. Marsalis’s apartment circulates constantly with friends, family, children, neighbors and fellow musicians, just the way his father, the jazz musician Ellis Marsalis, kept things back in New Orleans.

“I’m from New Orleans, and this is how we are,” Mr. Marsalis said. “I’m not partying up here; I don’t get high. I may be composing at the piano. I’m not going to entertain. You come up, you’re welcome, but you’re on your own.”

One neighbor, a Japanese man who speaks no English, often sits next to the piano, drinks beer and watches the ballgame – for hours. Mr. Marsalis often calls in another neighbor, a teenager who plays violin, to test certain musical passages.

On Thursday, Mr. Marsalis and Mr. Pero discussed the trumpet teachers they both studied with at Juilliard, and they discussed the surgery on Mr. Marsalis’s lip a few years back, which has left him uncertain of finding and leaping to certain high notes. Mr. Marsalis tried to demonstrate this by picking up his trumpet and, off the bat, blowing a high A. But he hit the A perfectly and followed it with a rapid, two-octave descending scale. He laughed and apologized: “I guessed right, this time.”

Then he and Mr. Pero both had their horns out, and Mr. Marsalis demonstrated a particularly difficult lick. Mr. Pero picked it up instantly.

Mr. Pero said that just hanging out at Mr. Marsalis’s apartment has helped him mature as a person and as an artist. “Just being around Wynton, I’ve learned the art of listening, not being so forward,” he said.

“In jazz, you got to have manners,” said Mr. Marsalis, who then returned to his piano, just out of earshot of his son’s hip-hop music.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction, May 12, 2010

A picture caption on Saturday with the City Room column, about the trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and his high-rise apartment on the Upper West Side, misstated his age. He is 48, not 51.

What else can be said about Mr. Marsalis’s down-to-earth manners. This is a testiment to his fine upbringing and parental rearing.

Winton is not the only Marsalis who is genuinely polite, kind and welcoming.

During the summer of 1989, after my first year of law school, I summered a Merrill Lynch in Washington, DC during the day and worked as a waiter at night at the now closed American Cafe on Capital Hill, to earn money for the next academic year.

On several occassions Bradford Marsalis would come in to the restaurant and I had the honor to wait his table and after a while he and I would bust each other’s chops, good naturedly of course. Bradford liked to kid around and make you laugh!

After several weeks of visits to the restuarant, Bradford started to mention some folks he knew in Rochester NY, where I went to college and grad school. Come to find out, we both dated the same young lady (not at the same time obviously) who was a principal dancer for the Garth Fagen Dance Company in Rochester, NY.

Once this fact came to light, we both laughed and kidded each other endlessly. Bradford Marsalis is just as kind, polite and good-natured as his brother Marsalis and I was privileged to have made his acquaintance.

My point is, the Marsalis Boys are probably the most well-mannered, polite and down-to-earth people you could ever meet.

The fact that Winton has befriended Mr. Pero is nothing surprising to me and I strongly believe that given who Winton is and how he was raised, I would be suprised if he acted any differently than he did.

Nice story ,you could feel the lovely energy in Winton’s home.
Made me remember my Violinist father in the 1940’s having
a home just like the above.
My Father during the world war had
an open door to any and every artist in our area of 73rd
street and Fifth avenue, George Hale, Gershwins Choreographer lived across the street , and various disenfranchised WPA painters ,Italian Mandolin musicians , Singers of German art song and dancers or professional models came to my home ,many all at the same time.
We were never bored or hungry as my parents were
great cooks and folks bought hard to find ingredients or
rationed itemed we had run out of.

My brother then a teenager attended Music & Arts HS . My Mother was his tutor and stagemom.

We were not rich but my Daddy was a caretaker of many
buildings there ,so we moved around in that neighborhood and my father would always know of an empty apartment for someone in need ,while the owners were away in the
business of war. These empty homes also made good
places to let loose the music.

I saw Joey Pero play at the Metropolitan Room in NYC. His performance gave me a new appreciation for what it means to attend live music, and for Mr. Pero as an artist . I felt invigorated by the synergy his performance commanded. His tunes were original but familiar, and somehow constantly shifted into just the right territory. It is fitting that Mr. Pero matured his talent and presence in the home of Mr. Marsalis who, as this piece demonstrates, is a caring and dynamic teacher. The idea of performers “learning how to listen” has taken Mr. Pero to a surprisingly marvelous level as a musician, and is a lesson for all of us. Judging by Mr. Pero’s performance, better listening is something we all should do. If you have kids that are learning music, make sure they not only gain the confidence that comes from performing, but learn that leading is also listening. Thank you for this delightful piece on two fantastic artists.

I am in New Orleans every week to perform and most of the musicians are just like that and even give free lessons. To “Commander Simplicity”, how do you expect us to believe your story Mr. law school if you NEVER spelled their names correctly after having supposedly been around them so much??? It’s WYNTON and BRANFORD!!!!

Years ago, when I studied with Carmine Caruso, everyone’s lessons were “open door.” We watched each other advance, overcome hurdles, share anecdotes, etc. Wynton is so right about this tradition-orientation in the world of trumpet. Joey is truly a phenom cut from the same musical cloth as Marsalis. Two great guys, great artists and GREAT members of the fraternity of trumpeters.

I have had the pleasure of knowing joey all his life, I played in St. Joseph’s Drum Corps with his dad in the 60’s. Joey is a musician that comes along very seldom. His hard work and dedication to his music has made him one of todays premier trumpeters. He is out of the same mold as Wynton, being as at home with classical as he is with jazz. Resonance is a CD that must be listened to. Joey’s extreme range and technique are showcased in this, his first of many CD’s. Thank heaven Mr. Marsalis met Joey and took a special interest in him. His mentoring has created something special for the whole world to enjoy for many years to come.

I have heard each of the Marsalis family musician members perform live somewhere in this land of ours: Wynton in a great little all-genres club called the Grand Emporium in Kansas City, Missouri twenty years ago, Branford at Vanderbilt University in Nashville ten years ago, and trombonist Delfeayo and drummer Jason with the paterfamilas Ellis himself on separate occasions at the Snug Harbor in New Orleans, which, IMHO, is THE place to hear live swinging ‘jass’ in the Cresent City.

Nonetheless, the fact that you are endeavoring to infer that my lack of mastery of the english language (spelling to be specific) somehow makes my past interaction with “Branford” less than believable is a testimony to your apparent ignorance.

Whether you choose to believe it or not is absolutely not my problem. Your unbelief does not diminish nor tranish the fond and factual memory I was privileged to acquire.

Perhaps if you possessed some fond, personal memories of folks you have met, perhaps you would not be so quick to try and put down the fond and heartfelt memories of others.

If you took the time to really read what I wrote, you would see that I was not at all endeavoring to make myself look important or anything of the sort, but was expressing what decent, honorable men and human beings the Marsalis Boys are! Something you are obviously not!

If you are so fond of the The Marsalis’ why not refer to them as MEN in stead of ” boys”. Exactly how do you view them? Its nice you had a history with Branford, but at least be more respectable. Lawyer boy.

“Just being around Wynton, I’ve learned the art of listening, not being so forward,”

I have been lucky to experience this, just from hanging out with Wynton and Branford. After a Wynton gig I attended when I was 17, I went backstage and sidled up to him as he was talking to another young musician. At the time I incorrectly thought I was knowledgable, as many 17 year olds do, so I was adding my little comments to what Wynton was saying. All Wynton did was glance over at me (a glance that is burned in my memory for life!) and non-chalantly say, “You sure love talking,” and without missing a beat, he returned to the his conversation. I remember that glance every single time I’m around older, wiser people and I think I have something to add to what they are saying.

I could go on for days with stories about important life lessons I learned directly from Wynton or Branford. Their wisdom is at an almost superhuman level, and I am infinitely grateful to Dolores and Ellis Marsalis for the brilliant job they did raising the Marsalis MEN.

Joey… proud to call you an acquaintance for years now and just thrilled you have come so far. You are a testament to hard work and diligence in your field and deserve the kindness of the successful and the love of many fans.

You are a great musician who has many years of music to pour out to others from your kind heart. Cheers! Keep up the amazing work and all the best in the world to a trumpeter musician who can sing very well, also. Wynton M. is an amazing musician and it is beyond my words to capture my thoughts for you.

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